


In the End

by Livruka



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Felix is angry, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sylvain is just trying to help, This might get a second chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 06:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livruka/pseuds/Livruka
Summary: "Having a bad night there?" The tone is playful, the gesture daunting. It's been a while since Felix has wanted to smack someone in the face so bad.Refusing an answer, he trudges on but gets irritated when he hears soft steps following him. With a frustrated wave of both hands he turns around and points a finger at the guy.A redhead. Of course.





	In the End

It happens in the blink of an eye, and nothing seems different at first. 

Felix takes the road through the park, sports bag dangling from one arm, and contemplates his plans for the weekend. Groceries, he decides. Then dinner. Maybe a late trip to the gym, if he feels like there's more energy to be spent. His neighbour comes home just as Felix opens his door. He hurries inside to avoid her alcohol-induced rambling on a typical friday afternoon but winces when she screams instead. Long and frightened. For a moment he considers turning to ask her what's going on but decides to blame her love-hate relationship with one too many drinks instead. 

It's only late that night when he realizes something's wrong. His trip to the gym is confusing and stressful, dozens of people bump into him, a car almost runs him over. A roadblock forces him to take a detour, and Felix almost snaps at a police officer who refuses to give him directions. When he hurls a dry stick at a flock of pigeons to blow off some steam, the voice from his back throws him off. 

"Having a bad night there?" The tone is playful, the gesture daunting. It's been a while since Felix has wanted to smack someone in the face so bad. 

Refusing an answer, he trudges on but gets irritated when he hears the soft steps following him. With a frustrated wave of both hands he turns around and points a finger at the guy.  
A redhead. Of course. 

"What do you want?" Anger laces the breath he exhales on every fuming syllable. 

The stranger seems unfazed, raising both hands with a smile. 

"I saw you passing by. You seemed lost, so I wanted to check on you." Again with that cheeky tone.

Felix jabs a finger at him, wants to smack him for the insolence of the world, but figures he can't use more trouble for getting into a fight. The training bag is heavy on his shoulder and Felix craves the burn of his muscles and the exhaustion that follows, so he shrugs the stranger off. 

"You seem like a stalker, maybe someone should check on you instead." 

He leaves.

-

Whoever has decided to cause him grief is apparently not done, and finally, when the second person stumbles back at the sight of him on the rack, Felix feels his patience crumble. He jumps to his feet, but all yelling goes unnoticed. Instead, people seem to startle at every shake of the water bottle in his hand, and when he throws it at the onlookers, they scatter with undignified yelps. Nobody's willing to answer his shouting, nobody's willing to explain. He leaves the gym with a punch to the wall and a satisfying crunch in his fingers that foreshadows a nasty bruise, but the anger is still boiling his blood, smothering every chance at reasonable thought.

It's late when he leaves, the sun long hidden behind the tall buildings. Felix marches home with curses on his tongue and ire in his veins, kicks stones at walls and huffs at the evening breeze. He only realizes he forgot to pick up groceries when he's already home, dull throb in his hand a clear sign he should delay the carrying of bags. 

It's hard to find sleep that night, and when Felix gets out of bed, the sun is just starting to tint the sky a pale pink. He shovels a few spoonfuls of leftover cereal into his mouth before leaving the house for the store, hoping he can snatch the most necessary things before people start flooding the alleys. 

Felix gets done before the first bulk of early birds assaults the store, but the cashier doesn't seem keen on doing his job. His eyes are glued to the groceries riding down the conveyor belt, the knuckles of his fingers white where they grip the metal edges.  
Felix follows his stare and briefly wonders what's wrong with his buyings. Bread, a variety of vegetables, rice, eggs and milk. All common brands, all lined up neatly. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He asks the man to do his job once, then a second time. Finally he picks up the leek and waves it in the guy's face. The effect is astounding. Pupils blowing wide as marbles, the man stumbles backwards and crashes into the opposite wall of the stand, knocking over the display of his register and several stacks of flyers. A soft whimper rolls through his throat, the primitive sound of a scared animal, before he catches himself on the wall and _runs_. He runs like Felix is the devil himself, like leek is a deathly weapon and he's never been so terrified in his life, and leaves Felix standing there with a sinking feeling in his gut.  
It takes him a moment to decide what to do, of calling after the guy with glances at his groceries and a mixture of confusion and regret. Then, with a frustrated hiss, he throws the leek back onto the belt and stomps out of the store.

-

It takes him all day to find the redhead, and he's sure he's given at least four different people heart attacks throughout his investigations. None of them were willing to talk to him, but reacted immediately to objects being waved in their faces or thrown at them from a small distance. It could have been amusing, if any of it made sense.

The sun is sinking again when Felix rounds a corner in the park opposite from his old school and sees the guy lounging there, seemingly unconcerned with the children playing in the distance and the toys flying past his head. He perks up when Felix walks over to the bench he's sitting on, cross-legged. 

A softball is aimed at the tree next to them and Felix moves to catch it, but the boy shakes his head with a low hum. 

"Don't," He says simply, "They will notice." 

Felix is tired, legs heavy from tramping around town all day, and this guy's nonchalance is infuriating. He lets the ball drop and steps aside when a young girl darts after it, but stares at the stranger with open annoyance. 

"Why?" The breeze is picking up again, but Felix doesn't really feel it. He clenches his hurting hand into a fist by his side, ready to punch something again just to get rid of some tension. "Why would I not want to be noticed? I've been playing hide and seek all day, or so it seems. What do you know of it?" 

The boy quirks a small smile, but it doesn't quite reach the eyes. He looks sad, Felix realizes, but can't bring himself to care at this moment.  
He's got an assignment due on Monday, and he isn't quite sure how to hand it in when his professor is likely to give him the same odd treatment he's experienced for the past hours. 

"Why don't you sit? I'm good company." 

It's the last thing Felix wants, sitting on a bench at a park like a geezer, but a thought occurs to him. A thought he can't believe took so long to take shape in his mind. 

"You," He breathes and steps into the boy's personal space, feet shuffling against the soft ground, "You talk to me. What's different about you?" 

They stare at each other for a moment, casual interest versus intense frustration, and finally, the redhead moves. He pulls a tennis ball from his pocket and throws it at Felix, who catches it with ease. 

"Wrong question. You should ask what's different about _us_. _We_ are different." He sighs and waves a hand for Felix to throw the ball back. He does so with unnecessary force, but the boy snatches it with a quick flick of his wrist. "What's the last thing you remember?" 

Felix blinks, then frowns in sincere confusion. 

"I- what? I walked here, looking for you. You're the only person who so much as acknowledged me in the last 24 hours. I figured you might have answers." 

The stranger nods and tosses the ball up into the air, eyes following it with an eerie focus. 

"What about yesterday? How much do you remember?" 

Felix is about to tell him off, to demand that that a stranger like him stop asking personal questions, but something about the wording throws him off.  
_How much do you remember?_

He thinks, thinks hard, about what he was doing with his day, and staggers when he realizes he can't recall anything before returning home. It should be impossible, his brain is fine, he memorizes and recollects numbers, addresses, events from years ago, but the memories of his Friday morning are hazy and fragmented. Incomplete. 

"I don't know," He admits after a moment of silence, and the ground feels like it shifts beneath his feet. "I remember coming home from college.... and nothing before that." 

There's no answer to that, and Felix stares down at the stranger to see him running a hand through his hair, almost as if he's unsure of what to say.  
He's tall, Felix noticed before, but now he seems impossibly small. 

Minutes pass between them, where Felix tries to make sense of his realization and the other boy pointedly looks at anything but him. 

Finally, he snaps, "Fine, so what does that mean? And what's it to you?" 

Their eyes meet, and this time the sadness is clearly visible. 

"It means you've died. And so have I."

**Author's Note:**

> Does this qualify as a death fic? I sure hope it doesn't.
> 
> The idea of confused-as-hell ghost Felix and sad-but-resigned ghost Sylvain has been running rampant in my brain for some days, and it was about time I gave it a playground. Considering the lack of explanations in this part, it's likely I'll write a second part to make up for it.
> 
> One thing is for sure: Felix will abuse his ability to cuss at people without them noticing, and Sylvain will learn to like that side of him. In time.


End file.
